Monday, September 11, 2006

Me: If I don't write about these Peachy Blueberry Bars soon, peaches are going to be out of season and nobody will be able to make them.

Joe: Yep.

Me: I mean, we decided we like this version best, right?

Joe: Right.

Me: And it's okay that the peaches make the topping a little mushy because the bars still look okay—especially the first day you bake them—and we decided I definitely should share this variation because they're really, really good, right?

Joe: Right.

Me: And I have a photo ready and everything.

Joe: So what's the hold up?

Me: I have no idea.

You wouldn't believe how many seasonal recipes I haven't gotten around to sharing in time—not to mention the backlog of recipes in general that I've been meaning to write about. (I know, I know, Oatmeal Toasting Bread. One of these days, I swear. Feel free to pester me—it can't hurt. Hey, it worked! The Oatmeal Toasting Bread Recipe is up!)

Anyway, before I talk about this new version of the Blueberry Breakfast Bars I wrote about back in June, I want to thank all of you who made them and then took the time to let me know how much you enjoyed them.

Now being the inventive bunch of bakers that you are, I'm certainly not the first person to take creative liberties with the original recipe. Julie said "I am overcome with blackberries, so I substituted. It was wonderful. Husband ate it in a bowl with milk on it. Daughter loved them warm out of the oven last night." (I had really hoped to try this, but our wild blackberries were dismal this year.)

Cyndi tossed in some frozen cranberries she had laying around and declared the result to be "sooo good." And Jade, who took my tongue-in-cheek "breakfast" part of the name seriously but couldn't quite allow herself to eat them for breakfast, came up with a healthier, guilt-free version. If you made my Blueberry Breakfast Bars and added a successfully unique twist, I'd love to hear about it.

So what did I do? I realized that not only was I seeing recipes combining blueberries and peaches everywhere I turned, but that I actually had blueberries and peaches in the house at the same time—and that they would probably taste really good together in these bars. And they did.

Now for the obsessive details.

My original recipe calls for 3½ cups of blueberries. If you use 2 cups of peaches and 1½ cups of blueberries instead, you will end up with a perfectly tasty bar with perfectly unmushy streusel topping.

When I spread out the fruit over the crust while making them, though, it didn't look like there was enough. Not wanting to add another variable into the mix (this has to be a first for me), I held fast and didn't add more fruit like I really wanted to.

Then when I tasted one, I still didn't think it had enough fruit. So I went overboard, and that's when the chunks of peaches started making the topping mushy.

To make a long, experimental story short, I found a happy medium.

Two cups of smallish peach chunks and 3 cups of blueberries, along with a slightly longer baking time, will give you nice, fruity bars that will look fine for the first half a day or so after you bake them, slightly mushy where the peaches are if you leave them overnight on the counter, barely mushy (even after four days) if you store them in the fridge, and not mushy at all if you wrap them up and freeze them right after they've cooled (though I can't promise what will happen once they're defrosted, as we haven't gotten around to eating those yet).

All of the bars look completely fine when buried under scoops of vanilla ice cream. And obviously if you are serving the entire pan warm from the oven to a crowd, you won't have to worry about where to put your leftovers or what they might do.

Since I only changed the fruit and the baking time, I'm not going to reprint the entire recipe here. Instead, I've amended my original post to include the peachy variation. Clickhere to head over there. (Update: Or check out the Apple Blueberry version.)

One thing I did find interesting is that even though I added an extra two cups of fruit but no more sugar, the bars were still plenty sweet.

If your peaches aren't super ripe and juicy, you might want to add a little more sugar—though I have no idea what the consequences will be. And if you can't get your hands on any really good peaches because it's already too late in the season, please accept my apologies and remember that there's always next year.

Oh to drown in a sea of blueberries. The wonderful way the taste comes forth when some natural yoghurt is added. I may just be able to scrape in there this summer with this recipe. Here's hoping!!!Love it, love it, love it!!!!

I made the breakfast bars - batches of them in fact - and topped them with whatever fresh fruit happened to be in season at the time. As we are forever needing grab and go breakfast foods, I stuck a batch in the freezer. I would like to report that they are (almost) as good as fresh from the oven and if you nuke them for about 30-45 seconds, they are steamy, soft and quite lovely. (Your microwave time may vary)

I love, love blueberries and peaches together and have some leftover peach/blueberry cobbler in the fridge right now! I printed the Blueberry Bonanza Breakfast Bar recipe and will try them soon for the Farmer's Market. I will let you know how it goes. :)

December 2015 update: Hi! For some reason I can't figure out, Blogger hasn't been letting me leave comments on my own blog (!) for the last several months, so I've been unable to respond to your comments and questions. My apologies for any inconvenience! You're always welcome to email me: farmgirlfare AT gmail DOT com.

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